Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And today I'll be preaching
from the book of 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians
chapter one. And I'm working my way through
chapter one and chapter two of 1 Corinthians concerning the
subject of the power and wisdom of God. Now, it's clear that
the Apostle Paul who was inspired to write this letter, this first
letter to the church at Corinth, where he had been to preach the
gospel and the Lord established a church there, probably a very
wealthy, a very big church, which is very uncommon even in that
day. But it's clear here that Paul is reminding the church
at Corinth of what the gospel the true gospel, and what salvation
is really all about. This was a church that had many
problems, and he deals with them in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 Corinthians. There's two letters in the New
Testament. Many people believe there was
a third letter that came in between these, and that could have been,
but it certainly wasn't. It was something that maybe have
made a transition there. But they had a lot of problems,
and one of their problems was that they were dividing over
men, over preachers. And the apostle Paul tells them,
look, the gospel, the gospel message, the gospel ministry,
and salvation itself is not about men and women. In other words,
it doesn't center around, it's about the salvation of men and
women. But the power of it and the wisdom of it is in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in His glorious person,
who Jesus Christ is. He is God manifest in the flesh. And there's nobody like Him.
There's nobody that stands on His level. He is God, the Son
of God, the second person of the Trinity. who has no beginning
and no end, and yet he came to earth and united himself with
sinless human nature, human body and soul. And so he worked as
God-man. This is what he had to do in
order to save his people from their sins. He was set up before
the foundation of the world to be the surety. of his people. That means the debt of their
sins was charged to him. He became accountable, responsible
for that debt. And in order to pay that debt,
he had to substitute himself in the place of his people as
God in human flesh, God-man. He had to die on the cross, be
buried and raised again the third day to pay that redemption price. He's the surety, the substitute,
the redeemer. of His people. And there's the
power and the wisdom of God. That's what Paul's saying here.
The preaching of the cross, the preaching of the glorious person
and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ wherein He
secured the salvation of all for whom He died. Well, that
message of the cross, that message of God's grace, that message
of the person and work of Christ, is the wisdom of God, it's not
the wisdom of men. Whenever men and women, the natural
man, over in 1 Corinthians 2.14, he talks about the natural man.
And that's referring to man as we are, mankind as we fell in
Adam, and as we are born dead in trespasses and sins. And basically,
what he's saying here, as far as salvation and a right relationship
with God, man does not have the capacity or the ability or the
knowledge to figure that out. And so that all that man comes
up with in his human religion, in his philosophy, in his perspective
in the world is foolishness to God. Now man considers God's
wisdom to be foolishness. It's foolishness to the natural
man that one person could die on the cross and save a multitude
of sinners by that death. That's the wisdom of God. And
so he says in verse 21, while I dealt with this last week,
we'll start there. He says in 1 Corinthians 1.21, for after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, that is human
wisdom, knew not God. You see, the knowledge of God
is a revelation from God to his people. It's not man figuring
out who God is. It's not man reasoning from the
ground up. It's God intervening, actually
invading our minds with his truth as it is in his word, and mainly
as he leads his people to see his glory in Christ. And here's
the point. If you don't know Christ in the
glory of his person and in the power of his finished work, you
don't know God. Christ said in John 17, I believe
it's verse four, he said, this is life eternal, that they may
know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. You see the knowledge of God.
He told his disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
What he's talking about, there's the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit. It is through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what
he accomplished on the cross, that we see a knowledge of God
that brings us to salvation. Because in the cross, we see
how God can be both a just God and a Savior. We see how God
saves sinners by his grace through the blood or the righteousness,
that's the cross, the righteousness of Christ. And that was God's
plan, that was God's purpose, that's God's wisdom and power.
So after that, verse 21, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom
knew not God, but how does God reveal? His wisdom and power to his people.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Now the preaching up there is
the preaching of the gospel. The preaching of the cross of
Christ. It's not just preaching morality. Now we do preach morality. We should be moral. But that's
not the preaching that brings a sinner to know God in salvation. Now what is the gospel? What
is the preaching of the cross? Well, look on, he says in verse
22. Now, when he calls it the foolishness
of preaching, understand that's the right word order. It's not
talking about preaching foolishness. You know, there's so many preachers
today who claim to be Christian and they preach utter foolishness.
Now, God's preachers do not preach foolishness, but when we preach
the truth, The natural man will see it as foolish. You know,
back up in verse 18, he said, for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved is
the power of God. And later on he says the wisdom,
so the power and the wisdom of God. So he says, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them. Preaching what?
preaching the gospel, preaching the cross, preaching Christ.
Paul says that over in verse 2 of chapter 2, I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now it's in Jesus Christ and
Him crucified that we see the power and the wisdom of God.
So what is the gospel? Well, as I said, it's the preaching
of the glorious person of Christ and the preaching of the finished
work of Christ, Christ crucified, raised from the dead. And the
Bible calls that the preaching of righteousness. That message
is summarized in the term, the righteousness of God. And I just
think about Romans 1, 16 and 17. I quote that very often on
this program. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, For it, the gospel, is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth, everyone whom God
gives faith to believeth, to the Jew first and to the Greek
also. In other words, there's no physical,
national, ethnic barriers here. Anyone whom God brings to faith
in Christ to depend upon His finished work, His blood, His
righteousness, The gospel has been made the power of God unto
them by the power of the Spirit. And he says in verse 17, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. So what is he talking about?
The righteousness of God. I've got a book that's coming
out soon on this called What is the Righteousness of God?
The righteousness of God is the merit, the value, the worth,
of what Christ alone accomplished in his obedience unto death to
save his people from their sins. What he did is he died under
the penalty of the law based on the sins of his people, God's
elect, imputed, charged, accounted to him. He was punished. The Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Who are the all there? It's not
all without exception now. It's all of his people, all whom
the Father gave him before the foundation of the world. And
he went under the sentence of death and hell, suffered the
wrath of God on that cross, the equivalent of hell, eternal damnation. And that's because of who he
is, God in human flesh. And he suffered and died, was
buried and arose again. And what he did in that transaction,
what he did in his work was bring in an everlasting righteousness
that enables God to be both a just God and show mercy to his people,
show grace and love to his people. Now he came to do this work because
God loved his people, because God was gracious to his people,
not to get God to love them or to get God to be gracious. No,
this was all part of the plan all along. What is righteousness? It's perfect satisfaction to
the justice of God. And the righteousness of God,
which is the righteousness of Jesus Christ worked out on that
cross, is imputed, charged, accounted to every one of his people. And
that means they're justified, they're not guilty. God will
not lay anything to their charge. Romans 8, 33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies, who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. So that's the preaching
that he talks about here. By the foolishness of preaching,
verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 1. Now, why won't the natural man
receive that message? You see, what he's teaching here
is that man by nature, as we are now, we will not receive
that. We will not believe it. It takes
a sovereign work of God to bring us to believe his word. And if
you truly do believe His word, it's not because you rose above
the mass of humanity and were less rebellious or less stubborn. No, it wasn't because you made
a free will decision, no. Christ said it in John 6, 44,
no man can come to me except the father which hath sent me
draw him. And I will raise him up again
at the last day. This is the one to whom God…
those who believe Him. We've seen that in the new birth. Look back at John chapter 1.
I've read this so many times in John 1 and verse 11. He says here, he says, Christ
came unto his own and his own received him not. Now some commentators
say that's his own nation because the Jewish nation as a whole,
not all without exception, but as a whole, they rejected Him. But you know, everyone by nature
rejects Him, and He says in verse 12 of John 1, But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name. Now that word power
there is not the same word power over here in 1 Corinthians 1,
the power and wisdom of God. Power there means the right or
the privilege. What he's saying is here, what
right do I have to be called a child of God? I'm a sinner. And sinners deserve damnation. What right do I have? What gives
me that privilege to be called a son of God, a child of God?
Well, here's the evidence. Have you received Christ? Not
just giving your heart to Jesus. I'm saying, have you received
the Christ of the Bible? That's why I tell people to examine
yourself. If you claim to be a Christian,
You need to examine yourself, 2 Corinthians 13, 5. Whether
you be in the faith, are you really looking to Christ as He
is identified and distinguished in this book? Do you believe
in the Christ of the Bible? Because there are counterfeits,
folks. Many counterfeits, deceptive. Christ said in the last days,
which we're living in now, He said, Many will come so close
that if it were possible, they could deceive the very elect.
So you need to get into the book of books. Now, the books that
I've written, I call it my self-examination series. They are to be companions
and guides through the book of books. You see, my books are
not even on the level of God's inspired word. No book is, no
book written by him. But I wrote them so that people
could study the word. What I wanted people to do is
to take my books and use them just like you would use a sermon.
Check it out with the word of God. Is this what the word of
God says? But look back at John chapter
one here. He says, verse 12, but as many
as received him, to them gave he power or right or privilege
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
His name identifies him and distinguishes him from all counterfeits. But
look at verse 13. Those who received him are those
which were born, not of blood. In other words, this is not a
physical birth. Salvation. Faith, repentance,
does not come by virtue of a bloodline or a pedigree. You know, the
Jews said we'd be Abraham's children. Therefore, they thought that
meant that they were children of God. Not so. It's not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh. Now, I believe that's referring
to the works of the flesh. It's not by works. Works that
you do will not bring you to receive Christ. And then he says,
nor of the will of man. Now that's the decision, the
desire of man. You see, man left to himself
will not desire the truth in this area. But he says, those
who receive him are those which were born of God, verse 13. That's the new birth. So back
over here in 1 Corinthians 1, this is what he's talking about.
Now, why won't sinners, by nature, receive him? Well, look at verse
22 of 1 Corinthians 1. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Now, the Jews, Paul used the
Jews to represent the highest points of human religion without
God. And they're looking for signs.
Lord, give me a sign. I'll see a lot of times you'll
be watching a movie and somebody gets desperate and they'll say,
Lord, just show me a sign. You know, the Lord said this.
He said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. You don't need a sign. You know
what you need? You need the word of God. God's word is enough. I don't need to see, you know,
they say the face of Jesus in the clouds, which is not Jesus
anyway, because nobody knows what he looked like. It's not
even being healed physically. I know a man who was desperately
in the throes of a deadly illness, cancer, and he was cured. He went to the doctors and he
took treatments. And he said, now this is a testimony
to the power of prayer. Oh, my friend, it's not a testimony
to the power of prayer. If I'm saved, it's not a testimony
to my decision or my praying or your praying, it's testimony
to the power of God. You say, well, you're just splitting
hairs. Well, okay. You can think like that if you
want. But I'm telling you, get into the word of God. The Jews
required a sign. They were looking for a sign
from heaven. They had the word of God, they had Moses and the
prophets, but they didn't believe them. Christ told him in John
chapter five, he says, you claim to be the children of Moses and
that your keeping of the law of Moses is your salvation. He
said, Moses is the very one who'll condemn you because you don't
keep the law, you're a sinner. You need a righteousness you
cannot produce. So the Jews, they're looking
for a sign. What are religious people looking for today? Emotions,
feelings, all of that, sign. He says the Greeks seek after
wisdom. Now the Greek, Greek there is
a way of referring to all Gentiles because it was a Greek or a Hellenistic
world back then. That came down from Alexander
the Great and all that he conquered, even the Roman world. And so
it's gentile, but they're looking for wisdom. They're looking for
human wisdom. And human wisdom will not get
you there, but look at verse 23. Now this is the key. But
we preach Christ crucified. Now under the Jews, that's a
stumbling block. It's like a trap. In other words,
here's a Jew who's going about trying to establish a righteousness
of his own by his works, and here comes a gospel preacher
and tells him, look, all of your works, all of your attempts fall
short. It's iniquity. You need the righteousness
of God. You need the righteousness of
another. to be right with God. You need His blood to cleanse
you from all your sins. You need His righteousness to
justify you and to give you life. And they stumble over it. Why?
Because they're attached to their self-righteous works or their
self-righteous experiences. I've had people who tell me they
do not believe this gospel that I preach. They say, but I know
I was saved because when I was 12, I went through this, through
that. You see the gospel, you're stumbling over the preaching
of Christ crucified. What you need to do is embrace
Christ and put all that stuff on the dung heap of false religion
where it belongs, in repentance. And he says, unto the Jews a
stumble, and unto the Greeks foolishness. It's foolishness
to the Gentiles. They're looking for human wisdom,
human morality, humanism, the betterment of man, instead of
salvation for sinners by God's free grace in Christ. But look
at verse 24. He says, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. Think about who are the called? In the Bible, there's two callings.
There's a general call that goes out in different forms that man
by nature will always reject. There's the call of nature. Psalm
19 says the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament his
handiwork. There's the call of conscience.
There's the call of the gospel, which if left unto man by nature,
he'll always reject. Think of Stephen preaching in
Jerusalem and they stoned him. But then there's the effectual,
powerful, invincible calling of the Holy Spirit. who takes
that gospel and makes it the power of God unto salvation.
And what does he do? He brings a sinner under the
preaching of the gospel and he imparts life from Christ, spiritual
life. He gives that sinner eyes to
see, ears to hear, a new heart, the Bible calls it, a new mind,
new spirit. And he brings that sinner to
see his utter sinfulness and depravity his utter inability
to produce that which God requires and to see that if God were to
judge him based upon what he can accomplish at his best, it
would be damnation and hell. And he brings that sinner to
see that his only hope is Christ crucified and risen from the
dead. That's my only hope. He's my
only hope. God can be just and right and
true and save a sinner like me based upon the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to me. And the Holy Spirit brings
me to receive him by faith and to repent of my dead works. My
friend, what I'm telling you is all your efforts to be good,
all your efforts to make yourself righteousness, they are no good. It's only Christ crucified and
raised from the dead. And that's the power and the
wisdom of God. You see, the Bible tells us we
are not saved by works, for by grace are you saved, through
faith. That's not of yourselves. The
faith is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And then it goes on in verse
10 to say, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. The creation of the church, the
new creature, The church is the new creation
and then it's made up of new creatures or new creations. That's
in Christ, it's by Christ. So we're His workmanship, not
our own. We're not self-made men. His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not because
of good works. Unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. Now that's what
the Bible teaches. That's what the gospel teaches.
That's the great salvation that God has freely provided for his
people. How do you know if you're one
of his people? How do you know if God chose
you before the foundation of the world? How do you know if
Christ died for you on that cross? How do you know if you're a recipient
of this invincible, powerful, irresistible calling? How do
you know? Do you receive Christ and Him
crucified and raised from the dead? Do you submit to His righteousness
alone as your only ground of attaining and maintaining salvation? Or are you looking to self in
some way? Are you looking for a sign? Are
you looking for human wisdom, opinions? You know how people
get together on Sunday morning sometimes in a Sunday school
class and they say, read a verse and say, now what do you think
about that? Well, who cares what you think about? What does God
mean by it? That's the issue. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.